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06 Jan 2009 |
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| What are the top five stories to watch for the 2009 Orioles? 1. The development of Matt Wieters. Is there another story that is even close in importance as this one for the Orioles? The Orioles have not developed a talent like his in a long time and his success or failure will be telling as to the organization's future. If he wins the job in the spring he should be a top five catcher, hitting .300 with 15 HR and possibly doing far better. For the Orioles his development is a $100M issue.  2. How bad will the rotation be? You can sum up their staff merely by noting that they went out of thier way to get Mark Hendrickson and he improved their rotation. Depending on what you think of Jeremy Guthrie's potential for regression to the mean, they have a chance to have no starters with an ERA under 5.00. That they were willing to cut bait on Cabrera, who at least will eat up innings, tells us a lot about the defects in their thought process. We see a slew of Boeing ERAs in the future.3. Wither Brian Roberts? Mr. Consistency is one of those underrated fantasy players that is pure gold. He has shown no skill erosion over the last few years and is as good a bet for .300 and 40 SB as any player in baseball. While one can easily say they should trade him for prospects, at some point you need major league quality players and the fact that Brandon Fahey might have to play every day if Roberts is traded is a daunting reason to keep him. 4. Can Nick Markakis vault into the second round? In mock drafts Markakis is going in the third round. Can he build off last year and make it into the second? He is virtually assured of a 25-100-.300 season and with a higher FB% we could have a 30-100-.300 season. At only 25 years old he is already star and we could be looking at a Hall of Fame caliber player. We say yes. 5. Will Adam Jones improve? Jones had a tough transition to the majors last year, posting  a .270/.304/.400 slash stat line. But at age 22 last year that his performance was actually fairly good and he was not overmatched by any means. Now that he has survived year one, early projections on many sites are looking for a big improvement. The Orioles have an ever so slight glimmer of hope offensively if everything goes right. The problem for them is the obvious strength of the AL East and the fact that the can not expect much pitching help even over the next few years. Even if Markakis, Wieters and Jones all blossom they will still have a tough time getting over .500 unless they can get some league average pitchers. Those three guys might all be 7-10 win players by 2011 so any development of league average pitching can make them a fringe contender. Trackback(0)
Comments (5)
  written by MikePodhorzer, January 07, 2009
big o, we will absolutely continue the top 5 series for every team! I'll be doing the NL teams, so look out for my first article within the next couple of days.
written by big o, January 07, 2009
Patrick :
every time one of you (generals ?) use the phrase "we think" , i have to scroll up to see who else is writing. the Boeing ERA line is a good one . always felt safer in a 707, as opposed to the 747.... i like the parallel ... smaller IS better. not a whole lot ... but better. i'm actually one of those guys who think that adam jones' development will accelerate by playing everyday against the (big) east competition .... that is , if he pays attention . i hope you do this top 5 stories thing for all 30 teams.
written by raphallwright, January 07, 2009
G'day,
The O's need to go young. There are too many big dollars being paid to older player who are getting to the end of the usefulness, Huff, Mora, Roberts. They should not be considering older higher priced players on free agency and if they do they should try to trade those assets by the trading deadline for young prospects. The Starting Rotation is aweful and needs some real remaking. Guthrie and Hendrickson are the only starting pitchers that may get a job on another team. Trade the older players away and focus on young arms and young infielders. Get a vetran catcher to start the season with the aim to have Wieters up by June. Then trade that vetran catcher for young talent before the trade deadline or in the off season depending on the contract. I hope the O's can make the right moves, but as with some of the past performance I doubt it (unfortunately). Of course the O's are going to finish the bottom of the AL East this season. If the youth policy is implemented this year may be competitive next year.
written by bret512, January 06, 2009
Good summary on the Orioles.
I think it's okay that Teixiera elected to play elsewhere since the Orioles are at least a few years away from being significant - and even that depends on the following things. 1) The Orioles must continue to trade away older assets (Roberts, Huff) for younger players. 2) The Orioles must convince and sign their promising young guys like Markakis to stay in Baltimore. 3) The Orioles must do a great job scouting and signing impact players in each draft. 4) Pitchers like Tillman, Matusz, Arietta must pan out. That said, I think 2009 will be brutal for Baltimore. The starting pitching is as bad as any time in baseball history - and it comes at a time when NY, BOS & TB are all strong.
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whoever does the A's run-down should tread lightly and understand that some of us "poor cousins" have been a little pissed off since the maris trade , in the winter of 59.
and don't hand me any of that osama bin billy beane crap. you ain't brain-washing me.
that jerk on espn (the one who stole king james' special chair) , last year , after reporting an A's victory said , and i quote, "and the A's fans do the peasants dance of joy".
i'd like to smack that guy.
i look forward to each and every article..... regards.